Candy and bubbles on previous Big Thompson Canyon job

Dancing on the side of the highway in hopes of improving traffic safety is a 10-hour daily performance for Shelly Bowman.

Motorists on U.S. 36 crossing the rebuilt bridge over Left Hand Creek in the last month may have noticed Bowman in a hard hat and florescent construction vest stepping a jig while urging vehicles to slow down.

Bowman, a 49-year-old Fort Collins resident, has to stay on her feet for her entire 10-hour shift each day anyway, so she spends most of it trying to both entertain drivers and their passengers and getting herself a physical workout.

"I really dance all day long. That's how I get their attention and make them smile instead of flip me off on their way through the work zone... It cheers them up when they have to slow down and stop on their way to work or wherever they're going. They might as well be happy," Bowman said.

Even without a tune to accompany her movement — Bowman sometimes quietly plays country music aloud through her phone, but never uses earphones while working — she at least rhythmically sways and bounces from one foot to another, and sometimes goes into a more exaggerated shimmy.

Drivers often reward her dance moves with a smile in Bowman's direction as they cruise by, she said.

She often receives grins and waves from Lefthand Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Chris O'Brien, who passes Bowman on his way to the nearby fire station in Lefthand Canyon.

He asserted Bowman's enthusiasm improves the traffic safety through the area.

Advertisement

"You notice her. It's not just a yellow vest and a sign on the side of the road. It's movement, so you see her," O'Brien said.

But Bowman walks a fine line between garnering motorists' attention and overly distracting them from the road.

"I don't want to do anything too distracting and get myself in trouble, but I just love to dance," she said.

Before flagging for the project on U.S. 36, Bowman spent a year-and-a-half as a flagger in the Big Thompson Canyon in Larimer County while construction crews rebuilt U.S. 34 from the damage it suffered in the 2013 flood, and she became recognizable to frequent travelers of that road, too, with more than dancing.

She said she often blew bubbles there as cars passed, and handed out candy to canyon residents.

"I met almost everyone in that canyon," Bowman said.

She first pursued a job flagging while she was living in Estes Park for the perk of being able to drive through the Big Thompson Canyon on U.S. 34 while it was closed to the public so she could more easily visit her three adult and teenage children who live in Greeley, Loveland and Fort Collins.

Scott Pickert, Bowman's supervisor on the U.S. 36 project, lauded her positive personality and work ethic.

"Shelly comes to work with a good attitude every day, she's very dependable, and even though she's a little bit different in a lot of ways, she's good at what she does. She stays engaged," Pickert said.

Sore feet sometimes result for Bowman after a day of incessant dancing — she said her feet have been a bit more stiff since she started wearing new work boots, but she thinks dancing will help break them in faster to make them more comfortable.

Despite the physical toll of flagging and dancing for 10 hours straight, Bowman wakes up each morning ready to get back out by the side of the road.

"I think it's kind of like childbirth — my job is so rewarding and I enjoy it so much that I forget (the discomfort) in the morning, but they're sore at the end of the day. But by noon time I just make it through the day because I love my job so much," Bowman said.

Though she has enjoyed dancing since she was a teenager, making a difference in the safety of the work zone by slowing traffic to an appropriate speed is the real reason she tries to stand out.

"I've tried to stand here and just do nothing, and they just fly right by you, and then they're doing 65 miles per hour in your work zone. That's dangerous," Bowman said. "That's my favorite part is knowing that we are keeping people safe, the people in the work zone, the people driving through the work zone."

Travelers who have not driven by Bowman and would like to see her routine have until October to do so, when she and Pickert said the project will wrap up.

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story